We have heard a lot of stories about developers finding success through crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter. However, it seems a little odd that one of the most well-known AAA developers and publishers, Squar Enix, would actually seek to create its own crowdfunding platform. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what is happening as Square has just announced Collective, a new crowdfunding initiative possible through a partnership with Indiegogo.

This, of course, begs the question, “Why submit to Collective when you could just submit to Indiegogo?” According to Square, tit will be filtering content to make sure that each game idea is viable. In fact, every title has to go through an evaluation phase before it gets onto Collective in the first place. So Square Enix basically has veto command over your project. Meanwhile, you could simply submit to Kickstarter or Indiegogo yourself, and there would be no middle man to tell you your idea isn’t feasible.

I’m a pretty big Square fan, but for the life of me, I just cannot figure out what actual service the company is providing here other than turning people away from an otherwise open crowdfunding source. Perhaps we will understand it better as more information becomes available.